More teach­ers and pas­tors wanted as JP’s

JUS­TICE MIN­IS­TER Del­roy Chuck has en­cour­aged more teach­ers and pas­tors to be­come jus­tices of the peace in or­der to set­tle com­mu­nity dis­putes be­fore they es­ca­late.

Chuck made the state­ment at a jus­tice sen­si­ti­sa­tion drive last week, which was held at the Min­istry of Jus­tice on Con­stant Spring Road in St An­drew. The aim of the drive was to get cit­i­zens more aware of how they can play ac­tive roles in the jus­tice sys­tem, which could re­duce so­ci­etal con­flicts and re­duce back­log in the courts.

The drive was fi­nanced by the jus­tice min­istry and the Ci­ti­zen Se­cu­rity and Jus­tice Pro­gramme (CSJP). CSJP is a govern­ment pro­gramme re­spon­si­ble for train­ing per­sons in me­di­a­tion strate­gies and restora­tive jus­tice.

“Ef­fec­tively, we want them to know that they can em­power and strengthen them­selves as com­mu­nity lead­ers to re­solve many of the dis­putes and con­flicts in their com­mu­ni­ties. The over­all aim is to cre­ate so­cial trans­for­ma­tion where we have less in­dis­ci­pline, less mal­prac­tice, less coarse­ness and brutish­ness, and to have a so­ci­ety that is kind and gen­tle,” Chuck told The Gleaner.

Chuck high­lighted that Ja­maica has been un­der var­i­ous types of re­stric­tions, not­ing this has been as a re­sult of crime and vi­o­lence, which could be eased if the restora­tive jus­tice be­gins to work in Ja­maica.

“It is a process and not an event and one can hope that we can start see­ing re­sults where we have less crime, less mur­ders be­cause these are mat­ters that are hold­ing back Ja­maica. Ja­maica has been kept un­der a lot of re­stric­tions be­cause of in­se­cu­rity and be­cause of the fear of crim­i­nal el­e­ments. Peo­ple don’t feel they can in­vest in this coun­try be­cause of the at­mos­phere,” he stressed.